Against the background of a discussion of classical and modern concepts of punishment, the first implying the imposition of suffering as essence and the second encompassing all varieties of sanctions implying restrictions but not necessarily some form of suffering the author rejects the suggestion of the second concept, that punishment should be defined without any reference to imposing suffering. There are conceptual advantages to sticking to the classical definition of punishment, such as the fact that it is clearly differentiated from the concept of measurements, which are sanctions imposed without any demand of ‘guilt’ on the side of a perpetrator. Also there are good reasons to maintain the element of (imposition of ) ‘intended pain’ in the concept of punishment, but it is this element – the intentional imposition of pain and suffering – that makes the author reject the activity of punishing as unethical. Non-violent sanctions are conceivable and feasible and should on ethical grounds be preferred. This is explored with reference to the work of Tähtinen. In close connection with this idea the author argues that we should redefine criminal justice (in the Dutch language: ‘strafrecht’ meaning the right to punish and laws regarding punishment) to mean that it is the discipline that responds to crimes and offences, without any defining reference to punishment (‘misdaadrecht’, meaning the laws regarding ((responding to)) crime).

The laundering of criminal proceeds from environmental crime has so far received little attention. This is to some extent surprising because environmental crime is one of the most profitable types of crime. Criminal proceeds are in many cases bigger than in the drug trade. In this article three different categories of money laundering are described. The authors use an analogy with soccer to describe these categories. In ‘division one’ transactions are almost all in cash. The illegal goods, for instance fireworks, can be bought and sold with cash money. There is hardly any need to launder money and the border is barely an obstacle. In the ‘premier league’ the border plays an important role to launder money. The authors identify several methods of money laundering such as the mixing of legal and illegal trade, the use of double-entry bookkeeping and the use of priority rights. In the ‘Champions League’ criminal groups create an opportunity to make money illegally and to launder their criminal proceeds. For example the EU-wide introduction of CO₂ emissions trading created an opportunity for VAT fraud.